Buying A DSLR - What to look for

If you want to take photography as a profession or as a serious hobby, it’s recommended to own a DSLR. While you are buying your first DSLR or upgrading it, spend some time in doing research about the various options available and compare them. No doubt, it’s an investment and you have to do it wisely so that you don’t have to repent later.

There are many features of DSLR, which would be mentioned in the catalog. It is absolutely OK; if most of those jargons don’t make any sense to you. As a beginner, you don’t have to know all the features, but there are few specifications which are important and should be checked for comparing while taking the decision of buying a DSLR camera.

1.      Sensor size

Image sensor is one of the most important parts of an SLR as it converts the light rays into digital photograph. The clarity and sharpness of the photograph depends on it. The photos taken in a DSLR looks far sharper than that of a point and shoot, even if taken in auto mode because of bigger image sensor size.

Do check the size of the image sensor before you buy your camera and if you have to compare between few options, sensor size is one of the distinctive feature to compare with.

2.      Light sensitivity

Light sensitivity is used for noise control. It can be known from the range of ISO sensitivity that a camera offers more the range, better is the noise control and sharper are the pictures.

3.      Lens focal length

Entry level and semiprofessional DSLRs come with a kit lens, which is an all-purpose lens to enable amateurs click almost everything before they realize their specific interest and collect the specific lenses. More the range of the kit lens more is the learning opportunity.

Few DSLRs offer the normal kit lens of 18-55 mm focal length and few offer the 18-105 mm kit lens. If your budget permits, go for the camera which offers the higher range of kit-lens.

4.      Sensor dust-removal system

As mentioned earlier, sensor is one of the most important parts of a DSLR and it is very delicate also, not to be touched often. Accumulated dust particles will affect the picture quality and hence, do ensure that your camera has an automatic sensor dust removal system before buying.

5.      Frames per second

As a beginner, you might like to use your DSLR for occasional video recording also. Frames per second are a measure of the video quality coming out of the DSLR. More the frames per second, better is the video quality.

6.      Focusing method

There are two things which come as a part of Focusing method.

The first one is the number of Auto Focusing which the Camera points, which varies from 7 to 30 in various camera. More the number of focusing points means more option to focus on a range of subjects in the frame. So, if budget permits, go for the camera with more number of AF- points.

The second one is the availability of focusing motor in the camera. High end and semiprofessional DSLRs come with a focusing motor, in which you can use a low end lens which does not have the autofocus feature and the camera will take care of Auto Focusing. Lenses which have autofocus feature are costlier than lenses which does not have the feature and hence if you have a high end DSLR (which has the Focusing motor), you can use the low end lenses (which does not have the auto-focusing feature).

Again, the DSLRs which have the focusing motor are bit costlier than the normal DLSRs. So if you don’t have the budget for a high end camera now, you can go for a low end DSLR and later on add the high end lenses to your gear-collection.

7.      LCD & Viewfinder  size

LCD screen might not play such a significant role in deciding a camera, but definitely the view finder size is. You have to frame your photograph by looking it through the view finder only and you have to comfortable in it. So if you are comparing between available options, then go for the DSLR with a bigger viewfinder size.

8.      Memory card

You will need to click many pictures and hence would definitely need lot of space in your camera to store them. Do check the memory card size before buying your camera and if you are comparing between various options, go for the one which gives you bigger memory card (provided you have already compared other features).

Size of memory card is one of the features to be checked, but it should not be the distinctive feature to buy a camera. Even if your camera does not give you a memory card big enough, you can always buy extra memory cards, which are not very costly.

9.      Weight

You are not going to keep your DSLR in your drawing room as a piece of display, rather you have to carry it along with you to many places, not just in your bag but most of the time around your neck or in your hand. So, do check the weight of the camera before buying and while comparing, go for the lightweight one.

10.  Power

One more ‘to be checked’ feature before buying your camera. Again, if it doesn't give you enough power backup, it can be compensated by carrying extra batteries.

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